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Technology advances in different ways in digital electronics and optics, and those differences are becoming increasingly important. With electronics, you can nearly always count on new technologies bringing better quality, faster speeds, and lower costs. We've seen it happen in PCs and memory for years, and it's happening now in digital cameras. The new cameras in this spring's fleet (see our Digital Camera Blockbuster) are smaller than ever, with better resolution for the price. And advances in sensors and electronics enable very quick recycle times and new built-in effects.

Advances in optics, though, are a different story. The physics involved means you just can't make a lens half the size and get the same quality. Although the quality of lenses has gotten better over time, the pace is glacial compared with that of advances in electronics.

The most innovative digital cameras are those at the extremes of the price/quality spectrumultracompact models and the bigger digital SLRs. Single-lens reflex cameras will always take the best pictures, because they let you attach the best lens for a particular shot. They're getting cheaper and faster, and the quality keeps improving. We're now seeing amazing cameras for around $1,000 and even less.

Ultracompacts are appealing to me, because I can always take one with me. The latest 4- and 5-megapixel models have decent lenses and easily fit in my pocket. Lately, I've been carrying around a Canon PowerShot SD300 Digital Elph and taking more pictures than ever. The photo quality is quite good, though not as good as what you'd get from a camera with a larger lens.

Many people think, though, that improved camera phones may supplant ultracompacts. Most newer phones have built-in cameras designed to take both still and video pictures. There's just one problem: I have yet to see a phone that takes decent pictures. And this comes back to the difference between electronics and optics: As electronics get smaller, phones get smaller, but it may be impossible to fit a great lens without making the phone too big.

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